


Ripples in the Water

by YKWillstone



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 02:51:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1966170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YKWillstone/pseuds/YKWillstone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's sixth year and Harry has a lot on his plate; Sirius' death, Ron and Hermione arguing at any chance, Voldemort hell bent on destroying him. He just wants to get away from it all. But a moonlit stroll around the lake takes an unforseen turn and Harry's life will never be the same again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nighttime Wandering

It had been cold, that was one of the things that stood out the most about that night more than anything else. It was so cold that nothing else seemed to be out; the lake stood silent and brooding in the middle of the landscape.

Harry could remember the prickle on the back of his neck that first alerted him to danger. He was outside for a very simple reason; Ron had annoyed him too many times and he needed to think without seeing Ron and Lavender snogging each other senseless. He had headed outside so that nobody knew where he was.

The full moon had loomed over the Hogwarts grounds like a silver ball floating on a sea of clouds and it had been reflected in the black mass of the lake. Looking a the black depths of the lake, he had thought about his life. He thought about his parents; how they had given their lives so that he could live. He did know if he had lived up to their expectations.

He would never know, he thought miserably. He had thought about how he never knew them. How they had never known him. They had never know what he would look like, see how he was getting on at Hogwarts or even talk to him about all the people he knew. His mother would never look at his friends and tell him to stay away from the influence of the twins. His father would never give him any advice on dating or gossip with him about the things that he had done while he was at Hogwarts. He had wondered if they were looking down on him now as he watched the full moon.

Ron and Hermione could never understand; Ron had hundreds of family members - once he had tried to count up the number of family members but had lost count at around fifty (his second cousin twice removed on his fathers side - Freya Jennings). He had only ever know how to live in the wizarding world and anything else was foreign to him. Hermione, being a muggleborn, could understand Harry's confusion in the wizarding world and at being the only person in the family with magic, however she always had her head in her books; looking through the books for facts that she might never find useful but thought that she should learn just in case they did come in handy. Or some reason like that.

A howl had echoed from the forbidden forest. Full moon, Harry remembered thinking. The howling grew closer to him; closer to the lake and louder and louder until it sounded to be only a few meters behind where he was sitting by the lake. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and woke up to attention. Full moon...

Full moon.

Harry remembered running as fast as he could, running far away from the forest and back around the lake, but he was sure something was following him, running faster than he was through the forest right towards him.

A quick look back, his worst fears were realised and he knew what it was, a werewolf. The werewolf had patched grey fur and was very thin but this clearly didn't affect the speed that it could travel at.

Harry remembered his heart pounding in his chest as if it were trying to get out. There was a small moment where it was just him running and it following. But then something, the werewolf, hit him. It lunged towards him, he moved to the left making the claws tear his sleeve and his arm, making him bleed.

Harry switched direction so that he was moving toward the light of Hagrid's cabin. In one swift movement his wand was in his hand. "Supify!" He yelled at the wolf, making the werewolf slow down briefly. Hagrid's hut was five hundred meters away.

The wolf came at him again, this time Harry realised it a second before it happened. Ducking, he changed direction a second time, making the wolf go over his head but not without getting its claws into his back. Yelling out in pain Harry came into the shade of the forest. Hagrid's cabin was three hundred meres away.

Harry heard, as if the noise was coming through speakers, the animal breathing. Harry stopped suddenly as he came to a dead end before the forest. He cleared his head and ran through the outskirting parts of the forest; the werewolf hot on his toes. His life started to flash in front of his eyes.

Green light.

Screams.

The cupboard under the stairs.

Being beaten by Uncle Vernon.

The forest had been dark and wet, every movement that he made created a crunching sound on the floor beneath him, the wolf was gaining speed. Air rustled past his ear.

Meeting Hagrid.

Coming to Hogwarts.

Ron.

Hermione.

The stone. He ducked under an upturned tree and jumped over a deep ditch; the light from Hagrid's cabin acted as a lighthouse in a storm; the wolf was only a meter or so behind him.

He could hear every breath, every intake and exhale of air.

Borgen and Burkes.

The writing on the wall.

Tom Riddle.

Ginny.

A flurry of noise to his right alerted him to another attack from the werewolf. He had ducked and the werewolf had gone straight over his head without scratching him. Hagrid's hut seemed to be getting further away but Harry, undeterred, had sprinted once again towards it.

Aunt Marge.

The Grimm.

Sirius.

Pettigrew.

The Dementor.

Harry let out a cry; trying to get the attention of anybody who might be out at this time in the evening. He hoped that Hagrid was in the cabin. Sweat trickled down his forehead and Harry had pushed himself to get to the door of the hut which was mere meters away.

The Tournament.

Cedric.

Voldemort.

The pain from his shoulder was getting steadily worse. He put his hand to it to try and slow the bleeding but in his moment of hestitation the wolf was upon him.

Umbridge.

The DA.

He felt the teeth of the werewolf.

Sirius fell throught the veil in front of a laughing Bellatrix.

He felt the pain.

Remus held him back from going with him.

The pain was so bad he felt like he was going to pass out or be sick.

He could feel the venom from the bite slowly going through his body. Seeping into his very being and causing pain in his insides as if they were on fire. He pushed the werewolf away with all his might and screamed again.

He saw Hagrid's door opening, light coming out of the crack. He saw the man himself hurry out of the door, pink umbrella at his side. Harry tried to run but the pain was too much.

He saw the werewolf go for Hargid but the giant just shot off a spell and the werewolf moved away from Hagrid and had gone back to Harry. "Fang!" Harry had heard Hagrid call and the black boar hound came racing out if the cabin.

Black spots started to circle his vision, getting closer and closer to the centre of his eye. Harry saw Fang fight with the werewolf and Hagrid taking the opportunity to rush to his side.

"Oh Harry." Hagrid had said, sinking to his knees and firing another spell off, this time in the direction of the castle "What've you done?"

The lake, far away sparkled in dark amusement. The blackness circled his view again.

He fought to stay awake. Keeping his eyes fixed on the lake. He felt arms around him, lifting him off the ground.

The blackness won.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reviews make me smile - flames will be used to roast marshmellows : )

 

I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER


	2. II

There was white - Harry could see it through his eyelids - a harsh light that seemed to grow brighter every minute that he lay still. He tried moving onto his side without opening his eyes but a sharp pain there ended any present and future attempts to roll over.

Deciding he might as well see where he was he opened an eye and blinked quickly to get used to the bright light that was flooding the room he was in. His glasses sat on the bedside table next to him, he reached out from the cocoon of blanket surrounding him and put them on.

He sat up quickly and regretted it almost instantly as not only his side lit up in pain; but also his eyesight exploded into millions of colours. "Mr Potter lie back down this instant!" Madam Pomfrey was at his side in a matter of seconds and she helped ease him back into the lying position he had woke up in. She propped his top half up with cushions so he could see something other than the ceiling; all the while chiding him for being to risk taking though the tone of her voice was kind and caring. "I hope you have had enough midnight wanderings now Mr Potter."

He winced and she looked at him critically "You'll be wanting this." She handed him a lime green bottle of potion. Which he swallowed in a matter of seconds though he almost spat it out as soon as it was in his mouth.

"Ahh!" he complained after swallowing the rest of the foul concoction.

"You should take better care of yourself Mr Potter; that way you wouldn't have to suffer through the heavy pain medication that you need at the moment." Madam Pomfrey lectured as Harry downed a glass of water that she handed him. After his third glass of water Harry looked up to Madam Pomfrey putting her wand on the bedside table, next to his.

He gave her a pointed look "I have to check on the wound - there is a possibility that you might not have contracted the condition." Harry looked at her in shock.

"What do you mean?"

"In some cases, Mr Potter, there isn't enough toxin in the bite to give the victim the condition," she made Harry sit up straight in the bed and continued when Harry gave her a disbelieving look "This can be caused by weakness or mutation in the werewolf who inflicted the bite."

"So I might not be a werewolf?" Harry asked.

"There is a tiny possibility of that, yes," Madam Pomfery started taking off the bandages from Harry's shoulder "Werewolf bites, no matter what the toxin levels are, cannot be healed by magic influence so I'm afraid that you are going to have to get used to the pain."

In a few minutes the bandages were off and Madam Pomfrey was inspecting the wound with intense concentration, prodding it in some places and in others she just moved her hand over the wound which caused Harry to flinch away slightly until she gave him a glare and he, slowly, moved back to where she was. Five minutes later Madam Pomfrey replaced the bandages and started casting (what seemed to be diagnostic) spells on Harry. She nodded as if they were telling her something important. "Well Potter," she said "It will take about twenty minutes for those spells to come to fruit, as the muggles say, so I will tell the headmaster that he can come in."

"Dumbledore's here?" Harry asked, so surprised that the headmaster was there that he accidentally tried to sit further forwards, stretched the wound and let out a surprised cry of pain. Madam Pomfery helped him back into the pillows ("Honestly Potter!") and went to the doors of the hospital wing and stuck her head around the door.

She said something to the person/people outside the hospital wing which was muffled by the door. Before long the door opened a fraction more and Harry caught sight of not only Dumbledore's silvery white beard but also of Ron's ginger hair and half of Hermione's face (which was half masked by Madam Pomfery). Harry even thought he saw a glimpse of Remus' patched clothing before the door closed and Madam Pomfery came back over to Harry's bedside.

"Professor Dumbledore is wondering if you would mind Mr Lupin being present when the results are given."

Harry quickly nodded to the request and Remus and the headmaster were both shown into the hospital wing. Remus looked tired, had large bags around his eyes and a limp. Harry felt a pang of guilt for forcing Remus to come out so soon after a full moon. Not seeming to care about the limp, Remus broke into a run to get to the side of Harry's bed. "Are you feeling okay Cub? Do you need more pillows? More-"

"Remus I'm fine!"

"Other than the huge chunk that the werewolf took out of your shoulder?" The question was joking, Remus was not.

"Yes, apart from that." Harry and Remus sat in silence for a minute longer and watched Madam Pomfery and Professor Dumbledore talk until "Remus, how long have I been here in the hospital wing?"

Remus jumped slightly and looked at Harry smiling slightly "I wondered when you were going to ask that? You've been here for three days and two nights. It's about 4pm now."

"And how did I-" Harry trailed off.

"Get here?" Remus dropped the smile.

"Yes, that."

"Hagrid bought you here, he came here as soon as the werewolf had been fended off by Fang and (unofficially of cause) a few well timed stunners on Hagrid's part. Then he ran here and woke Poppy up without letting you go (or so I am told) until she let him help her, he thought that she would take too long on her own to get you stable - panic does bring you the more protective side to us all," Remus took in a deep breath "By the time they had you stable Harry, they had woken Dumbledore (and a good number of the other Professors in the process), the full moon had gone down.

Dumbledore came and healed me enough so that I could make the journey here. I think he thought that you might do with some...moral support."

Harry took a moment and thought about things, he suddenly looked up, shocked "But what about the werewolf that bit me? What happened to it after it got away from Hagrid's hut?"

Remus squinted as the winter sun came low enough over the lake to light up the hospital wing through the window nearest Harry "There was a search for the werewolf conducted as soon as the other Professors were roused enough in the morning to go out and look for a person (other than myself of cause) who showed signs of being in a battle that night."

"Did they find them?"

"Unfortunately no, but they did track the signature to one of the borders of the castle. It seems that when Dumbledore came to get me that morning, they used the opportunity to get out of the boundaries and into Hogsmede," Remus looked at Harry "They didn't catch him Harry, I'm sorry."

Harry was about to tell Remus that it wasn't his fault, when Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey came over to the bedside. "Harry my boy," Dumbledore said "I hope you realise that the results of this test - whether positive or negative - does not effect your stay at Hogwarts. I would be more than happy for you to be a student here until you finish up next year and (dependant on your NEWT scores of cause) I am sure that we as a staff could pool our resources to get you a job."

Harry stopped, of cause, being a werewolf was almost as bad as being a muggle in the eyes of most of wizarding society. He hadn't thought about that. This test could decide the rest of the standard of his living, for the rest of his life. Forever. He looked at the headmaster, who was looking at him sans the normal sparkle of his eyes behind his half moon glasses. He unstuck his tongue "Thank you Sir."

"You're very welcome Harry, though I think you might want to save all of your dooming thoughts - the thoughts that you are no doubt having - until you are sure of the results of the test. And remember; there are worse things than being a werewolf. I have often thought that being a muggle servant would be the worst thing in the world. Doing all the hard work and then getting none of the thanks for it."

"Right Sir."

"Anyway, Madam Pomfrey. If you would."

The matron moved her wand over the bandages on Harry's shoulder "Mr Potter, the spell that I am doing now might sting a little bit but I assure you that it will be over almost before it's begun." Her words were then followed by a sharp sensation making it's way though the site of the wound, down his arm and into his hand. It was a sharp pain thar caused Harry to grab onto the nearest thing (which happened to be Remus' arm) in pain. Madam Pomfrey moved his hand onto a piece of parchment that she summoned from her office.

"Now Mr Potter, this part is the part where we find out if you have enough toxin in your blood to turn you. I will place your hand on this parchment it will give most of the diagnostic information about what's going on inside your body at the moment."

She did this and, after a minute of intense suspense, words started to appear on the parchment:

Harry James Potter  
Male  
16 year and 5 months

Curse Scar  
No impact on health at the moment

Other Scars  
No impact in health

Varying Scratches  
Mixture of healing and healed

Werewolf Bite  
Toxin levels 47%  
Non - Lethal  
Magic resistant  
Toxin in bite not enough to cause transformation at present levels.

Harry looked at the parchment in disbelieve, it was all going to be okay. Nothing was going to happen and he was going to be okay. No transformation, nothing. His grip on Remus lessened as he felt the man go slack. "See Harry," Dumbledore said "Nothing to worry about. I'll still need to talk to you before you are discharged but I think the rest of the school would feel left out if I do not join them this morning at the feast." The old man smiled, nodded to both Remus (who was still looking at the parchment on Harry's lap in disbelief) and Madam Pomfery (who was already tidying up the side of Harry's bed), and left the Hospital Wing.

"What does it mean with the 47% Madam Pomfery?" Remus asked curiously. Harry paid attention but tried to settle down on his own causing pain to rise up his shoulder. Remus jumped to his side "Careful there Harry."

"The 47% is the amount of toxin that is in the blood stream. If the toxin levels were anything above around 50% then it would continue to rise until the person is a full werewolf. This takes about a week after the initial infection," She came back to the side of Harry's bed and placed there an assortment of sweets "From your friends and admirers Potter. In Mr Potter's case, this time after the infection would have made the toxins react and he should have reached the peak of the toxin levels in him."

Harry realised something and asked "Madam Pomfery, now that I've got the toxins in my blood, will I change slightly? Will anything happen to me?"

Madam Pomfery stood up straight "You might get a bit tired around the time of the full moon, want to eat meat a little bit rawer, features slightly change. Anything of that sort. But it is highly unlikely that you will get more than one of those symptoms."

Remus patted Harry on his uninjured shoulder "I better get going. I think Madam Pomfery might let your friends in to see you in a minute - there is a risk that if she doesn't they might knock down the door in order to get to you. Have a good one Harry," just as he was about to leave Remus caught sight of Harry's face, sad and already slightly bored "Tell you what, I'll sneak you in some books from the black family library on Defence Against the Dark Arts so you don't get board."

Harry's face split into a grin "Thanks Remus."

Remus left and Madam Pomfery looked at Harry critically "You are not to exhaust yourself Potter; else I'll keep you here for a week."

"Yes Madam Pomfery," Harry responded, looking hopefully at the door to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfery gave a small sigh and went out of the doors for a minute. She talked to the people behind the door ("No more than four at a time!") and came back in with a rather worried looking four. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mrs Weasley came hurrying into the room.

"Harry!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 :-)


	3. III

Three days later Harry was settling down to do yet another pile of homework that the teachers had given to Hermione and Ron so they could give it to him. Most everybody from the DA had visited him and given him 'get well soon' cards and stopped by to have a chat. The cards were now taking up much of the space on him bedside table and some were on the floor, and Madam Pomfery had put a chair next to his bed so it was less awkward for Harry to look at them.

There was also a screen around his bed to stop people who wanted to peak at him (and some people had done this); faking or even giving themselves, an injury to get into the hospital wing and then spending all of their time there looking at him as if they wanted to ask him a thousand and one questions (and they probably did).

Mrs Weasley had stayed for about two hours next to Harry, before realising that she needed to get back home as Bill, the Weasley's oldest son, was due back from a business trip in France with Fleur and she didn't think that they would want to return to an empty house late at night. She had left with a hurried apology and a pat on the arm ("I'm sure you'll be out of here in a jiffy Harry.") which was unfortunate as it was the wrong arm and Harry had had to grit his teeth in order to stop from crying out.

Hermione and Ron, other than giving him up to date homework, had decided that they were going to keep him updated in all the gossip that had been circling around the castle. "Everyone thinks that You Know Who's behind it, everyone's saying that your in here and that Dumbledore has had to resort to necromancy just to keep you from dying." Which was quickly replaced by "Everyone's saying that your mortally wounded by a werewolf and that your ether going to become one and live, or die."

From then there had been a monotony of rumours about Harry meeting a horrible, slow and painful demise ("They don't half like to predict my death this school!") which Harry had simply lost interest in very quickly. Hermione had also done some research into what Harry might have to go through if there were any side effects. This also involved her giving Harry different cuts of meat all of differing stages of being cooked, and asking him which one he found more appealing to eat (Harry had answered with surprise that he felt more like eating the lesser cooked of the options rather than the more cooked options), borrowing Colin Creevey's camera to compare pictures of him now to pictures of him months ago and constantly testing his eyesight to see if there was any change in the way that he was seeing.

Ron on the other hand came into the hospital wing with more things for Harry to do other than homework; he bought in Harry's wizard chess set (the same one he had received in a Christmas cracker in first year), most of the mail that Harry received (mainly from reporters wanting to interview him about the werewolf attack) and a deck of playing cards which he used to teach Harry the game of solitaire (a game that he had picked up from Fred and George during the middle of the holidays when they had been developing their muggle range of tricks and games).

The Daily Profit was having a field day so it seemed. Remus had dropped off old copies along with the Defence Against the Dark Arts books that he had promised Harry. Since the attack the Profit had gone around to all the people at Hogwarts that it could manage. The Slytherins had, at first, tried to play the whole thing off as Harry wanting to have more attention so he went and did something stupid to get his name in the papers. Their tune had changed to "We hope he gets better too?" As soon as, Harry supposed, their parents had realised that they couldn't afford to say things like that if they wanted to stay popular in the wizarding world.

Two days after Harry had woken up there had been a Slug-club party announced for the following week, since he was in the Hospital Wing Ron and Hermione promised him that they would keep him updated on the goings on of the party. He thought that perhaps he could weedle his way out of the party but unfortunately (or, Harry supposed, fortunately for him) Madam Pomfery had told Ron and Hermione (who had forgotten to fight while he was in the hospital wing) that he would be out in good time for the party as long as he didn't exert himself too much.

Harry was halfway through his pile of homework when Madam Pomfery started to do another check on him; this involved taking off the bandages off her shoulder, checking that it was healing and then putting clean bandages on him. She told him that this was in order to stop infection as the bites were highly prone to infection if not carefully looked after. After she put the bandages back on she turned and faced him. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, nothing hurts that badly except my shoulder," Harry responded as he used his wand to summon 'The Standard Book of Spells Level 6' from the pile of books on his left side. Madam Pomfery started to check the chart at the bottom of his bed. Thinking that he was finished being talked to, Harry opened the book and started the essay that McGonagall had set (defining the difference in transforming animate objects into inanimate objects and transforming an inanimate object into an animate object).

"Mr Potter, I'm going to have to do some other tests on you before I discharge you," Madam Pomfrey said, snapping Harry's attention away from the third paragraph of the chapter he needed to read. "If I do them now then you will be able to go back to your lessons after lunchtime tomorrow. If you could put the book down for now, I can do the first few tests."

Harry put the book down and Madam Pomfery got work. She repeated some of the spells that she had done the first time he had been woken up. Instead of giving him time out like she had done the first day though, she asked him questions about the bite and what Harry had gone through.

"Does the bite hurt when your on the medication?"

"Not unless I move it or I brush it past something."

"Have you felt drowsy at any point in the day when you should be feeling fine - such as mid day and the like?"

"No Madam Pomfery."

After he answered any of the questions she would jot something down on the piece of parchment that she held on a clipboard in her hands. Soon though, it was time to get the results of the testing. Harry put his hand down on a fresh piece of parchment and the words formed again.

Harry James Potter  
Male  
16 year and 5 months

Curse Scar  
No impact on health at the present moment

Other Scars  
No impact in health

Werewolf Bite  
Toxin levels 49%  
Non - Lethal  
Magic resistant  
Toxin in bite not enough to cause transformation.

Madam Pomfery looked at the sheet as soon as the words appeared and scanned down the list quickly - Harry watched as she skimmed the lines of the report. She thought about something for a moment, she frowned in concentration until Harry could see that she had come up with a solution. "You're lucky Mr Potter; if that werewolf had been just a little bit stronger then you would be with Mr Lupin at the next full moon. As it is you'll have to check in with me next week the morning after Slughorn's party - don't say that I don't let the students of this school have a good time."

"Thank you Madam Pomfery," Harry said, picking his book up again and wincing as he accidentally hit the wound against the bedpost, his arm filled with pain. He was halfway through the chapter when someone opened the screen to his section slightly and came in.

"Good afternoon Harry," Professor Dumbledore said as he sat down in the chair next to Harry's bed.

"Good afternoon Professor."

"I trust you are well?" Dumbledore asked eyes flicking, as so many had, down to the bandages still slightly visible showing underneath Harry's pyjama top.

Harry gave a weary smile "As well as can be expected I suppose. Madam Pomfery says I should be out by lunchtime tomorrow!"

"Good news then," Dumbledore paused, blinked and then said "Harry I would just like to say that there have been rumours going around that I think will make your life a tad... difficult, when you get out of the hospital wing."

Harry nodded "Ron and Hermione said as much Sir."

"I would definitely keep those two as your friends," Dumbledore smiled "Good friends are hard to come by, but even harder to loose." He looked around as if wondering how to phrase what he was going to say "Harry the other professors and I are happy to help if there are any...difficulties that occur at any point in your year, our offices are always open."

"Even Snape's?" Harry said, joking.

Dumbledore chuckled "Professor Snape, Harry. Yes he has agreed to opening his office doors to you though I'm sure you might want to go to other Professors before you go to Professor Snape's."

"Duly noted Sir," Harry smiled "Professor Snape's office is the last resort."

Dumbledore looked at Harry with fading amusement "Harry, I must apologise for your attack."

Harry looked at him quizzically "How is my attack the result of anything you have done?"

The headmaster's face turned grave and he said "Voldemort seems to have realised that every time I apparate into or out of the castle there is a small glitch in the wards which means, just for a second, anything can get through. I was back from an order meeting with some of the other Professors when the attack occurred. The werewolf must have slipped out when I went to get Remus."

Harry paused, taking in all the information at his disposal "Why didn't you catch this before? You've been headmaster for years. Why is this year any different?"

Almost guiltily Dumbledore held up his blackened hand "The curse which did this to me seems to have trouble with the wards. Bill Weasley has been working on a new ward for the school, doing research in France and other countries looking for something to put around the school. If your wandering had taken place anytime after tomorrow you would have been safe."

Silence occurred for a moment before "I am so sorry my boy, if I had thought that a student would get harmed, that Voldemort would realise that there was a weakness in the wards surrounding the castle then none of this would have happened."

Harry opened his mouth to object, closed it, and then said "It wouldn't of happened, no, but better it happened to me than some poor first year."

"Why do you say that?" Said Dumbledore, confused.

"If it had been anyone else there would be nothing that they could do to get back at the people who did this to them."

"Revenge isn't the right path to take - anger clouds even the best of intentions. Take that from someone who knows."

"I'm not after revenge Professor," Harry said looking Dumbledore in the eye and noticing the lack of the usual sparkle "I'm going to do what's right, somehow I will get rid of Voldemort eventually. Even if it takes all the effort I have left. He will fall."

Dumbledore stood "Be very careful Harry with what you do."

Harry nodded "I will be."

In an obvious switch of subject Dumbledore then said "I see that once again your friends are determined to get you stocked up on sweets."

Harry looked around in confusion, his friends hadn't bought him any sweets "Sir what do you-"

He was cut off by the sound of the screen opening a second time and Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny came around the corner, arms full of sweets in brightly coloured wrappers. "Oh!" They stopped coming in and paused midway into the screened section. "Professor Dumbledore, we'll wait outside."

"No need, I was just on my way out anyhow," Dumbledore stood up and turned to Harry "We will have to have another lesson soon. I will send you a message." Harry nodded and the headmaster walked out of the Hospital Wing.

Before any of the others could say a single word Madam Pomfrey was back "Was that the headmaster leaving?" She said, then she caught sight of the four DA members "Mr Potter will be joining you at lunch tomorrow. I am sure that you can wait till then to give him sweets! He needs rest. Not sugar!"

Harry gave them an apologetic look. Hermione and Neville looked slightly abashed but the two Weasleys gave Harry grins "Well, we'll just have to tell the DA that you'll get their presents," here Ron nodded down at his load "tomorrow. Come on you lot! See you soon Harry, and don't do anything too stupid!"

"I won't." Harry said to his friends disappearing back, the others quickly said goodbye ("Make sure that it is tomorrow that we get to see you not next week!") and set off back out of the doors. Madam Pomfery put a clear vial of green potion in Harry's hands and took his book off him and placed it with the other books on the floor. She then fixed him with a no-nonsense stare.

"Mr Potter you need to have at least one night of good sleep and since I know that there is a high possibility that the excitement of going back to your classmates tomorrow might stop you from getting to sleep, I would like you to have some dreamless sleeping potion," she watched him expectantly and so Harry swallowed the potion in one gulp, it wasn't as bad as the one he had had to take when he had first woken up, but it was still pretty bad. Madam Pomfery nodded and then drew away, closed the screen behind her and then locked the Hospital Wings doors.

The lights around the hospital wing were extinguished and as Harry's sight slowly closed off, he heard the sound of Madam Pomfery going into her office.

A second later he was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haya :-)
> 
> Hope you're enjoying the story, it's been fun to write - feel free to comment below to tell me what you think :-)


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